Freefall Reunion and Forced Outernet Dive
“How the hell did you get here? The server isn't even open!”
“Ch-check again! It's really just one core?”
Zero Pang, the nominal boss of the Dust Viper gang, barked at his advisor hacker in a frantic voice.
“Y-yes, sir... The core that red bitch is using is just one. And it looks like the one that sharp-eyed girl was using...?”
Zero Pang lowered the scope embedded with a core, sweat pouring down his face. To drain their prey's strength, they were scattering coordinates from a safe distance.
“How is she operating the core like that...?”
But the hacker advisor watching from the side just tilted his head at Zero Pang's words.
“Can't she just use multiple force field cores?”
He really had no clue. Zero Pang clenched his fist, holding back his rage at the advisor's clueless scratching. If he beat this hacker to death too, the Dust Vipers wouldn't have a single hacker left. And this was the only subordinate who actually listened to reason. Sure, the others followed orders when chasing prey, but they only responded to “let's eat” or “walkies”—no better than dogs.
Anyway, Zero Pang swallowed his anger and tried to enlighten the advisor, who knew nothing about core operation.
“Look here, you idiot! Every time she attacks, the operation technique changes!”
“Uh... but the combat efficiency doesn't seem that high...”
Zero Pang pounded his chest, unconcerned even as his subordinate got smashed.
“She's been maintaining that for hours now! Argh...! That brute... ugh...!”
Not great at explanations, Zero Pang just growled and smacked the back of the hacker's head.
Swallowing his anger—and his spit—Zero Pang recalled an urban legend-like existence. A monster that could topple a mega corp with just one core. The City government's hunting dog. Dripping black solvent that smothered even blood, earning the fear and awe of mercenaries everywhere.
“N-no way... it can't be?”
Just a city myth that might not even exist. Ignoring the blood trickling from his scarred bald head, Zero Pang raised the scope again. Through it, a weary girl panted for breath. She was only dodging death lines now, not blocking bullets directly like before—clearly, that mighty force field was weakening.
“...Good! As if a Black Ops could be...!”
Just a girl who could fight a bit. “Through that bitch, that feisty one from yesterday... heh heh heh...!”
Lowering the scope amid filthy fantasies, Zero Pang missed it. The little wolf cub's eyes widening to saucer size, spewing crimson flames.
The brain is a wondrous organ. It constantly kills its own cells and births new ones, endlessly reshaping itself.
The hippocampus, most vulnerable to Amnesia Virus infection, was where this neuroplasticity raged most fiercely.
And Black Ops meant monsters who, through endless repetitive motions and drug injections, successfully shifted the hippocampus's memory storage to other areas.
Dorothy was literally grinding through the swarm of bugs.
Dust Viper gang members crushed by the force field snapped like twigs.
A child who had crossed the Black Ops threshold. That alone made Dorothy a monster.
It didn't take long to realize that. Even for trash like the Dust Vipers, who had shoved cheap cores into their brains.
Kwajik!
“Gaaaargh...!”
“Kkhuh...!”
“What kind of force field is...!”
Dozens of grown men knelt. Off-road trucks crumpled by the dozens.
A girl in a white dress with fiery red hair—rarely seen beauty—waved her hand, and it happened.
Her half-lidded, burning eyes scanned the battlefield meticulously, spotting incoming lines of death on her body.
Tatadang!
As Dorothy slipped the lines with High-Speed Movement, bullets riddled the bug comrade behind her.
“You fucking bitch!”
The spherical force field rippled oddly. Wave form for Wave Detection and barrier for Shock Absorption deployed simultaneously.
The intense physical force that halted bullets was overlaid onto the gang members' bodies and their cover trucks.
Kaduduk!
“Ukkguk...!”
Bugs caught in the crossed gravity field ended up pathetic, like moths to a flame.
“Fuck...! It's a monster!”
“Run... run!”
“Kkhuk...! No! Just charge, you fucks!”
But Dorothy's rampage time was limited. Just as her knowledgeable friend Tiara had worried, a mere splash of black solvent couldn't protect her for long.
Her precious friend Tiara. And the memories with that Tiara.
These two things.
And Dorothy had already decided to protect her friend Tiara.
'Memories can be made anew.'
Her hair, now fully absorbing the black solvent and redyed crimson, fluttered in the wasteland's filthy wind.
“Hup...!”
Dorothy felt a faint headache. Symptoms of the Amnesia Virus manifesting.
A day later, she'd revert to the moment the symptoms hit.
“Done? Tired yet?”
“Looks like it? You go check.”
“Wanna die? You go.”
Trash cores crudely jammed in. Dust-caked, dumb faces. Allies' friendly fire taken for granted.
Not a single redeeming quality in the bug swarm—except their numbers. Sheer, overwhelming numbers successfully drained Dorothy's stamina.
And... these non-comrades scrutinized the corpses.
Excluding those crushed by their own trucks or necks snapped in the pile...
“That bitch over there. Never killed anyone, huh?”
They realized she hadn't directly killed any of them.
“Kkhuk... fuck, you say that in front of a guy with broken legs?”
Taang!
“Little shit talks big. Makes the listener feel bad, fucker.”
Kkilkkilkkil.
The bugs deliberately killed the wounded to gauge Dorothy's reaction.
Leaning on the warmth of Tiara's left-behind glove, she tried to focus...
“Fuuuuck youuuu!”
Kaduduk!
“Hup...!”
A man crumpled inside Dorothy's force field. Like a bug. Blood sprayed, brains oozed from the corpse. As Dorothy averted her eyes, the gangsters snickered.
“Hey, she's flinching? She flinches when we kill humans?”
The bugs changed tactics. Using wounded bodies as shields, shoving them into the force field to burn her compute power. Hurling blood and guts, closing in brazenly—kill us if you dare.
Thus chipping away at Dorothy's mental strength.
The fists of the Black Ops dropout trembled.
Those filthy humans' necks... she had to snap them...
'You're too weak.'
Mom's voice echoed in her ears.
'Got a pretty good offer.'
'Perfect for you, who can't even kill a bug.'
The voice of the mom Dorothy abandoned... Dorothy had abandoned... sliced her heart like a razor.
Kill them. Dorothy narrowed her eyes.
Filthy...! The filthy ones targeting Tiara and me!
Kill them!
'Kill them, Dorothy. Kill!'
Mom's voice, the Black Ops instructor's words dyed Dorothy's eyes even redder...
Right then.
-Dorothyiiiiii!-
A familiar voice hooked into Dorothy's sensitive senses. Unlike a hallucination, it stabbed her heart with a buzz the moment it hit her ear—real.
Dorothy whipped her head up and spotted the tattered white dress fluttering atop the tower, and “Ti...ara?”
blue hair like the sea.
“Tiara...!”
High places are scary. Wait. Don't go up there. No. Wait. I'll... I'll come to you.
But the girl Dorothy loved most threw herself off the tower.
“No...!”
Her burning eyes chased Tiara. The force field at its limit launched Dorothy skyward.
Vertically plummeting blue hair and rapidly ascending red hair.
“Hah... hak...! No...! Nooo...! Tiara...!”
-Tiiiiiirraaaaa!!!
Drip...!
Red blood leaked from Dorothy's nose too.
Faster. A bit faster!
In the sub-millisecond time of the fall, Dorothy burned her last black solvent to close in on Tiara.
-Hwaaaang! Tirraaaa!
“Tiiiiiaaaaaarrrraaa!!!”
A bit below the tower's midpoint. The two girls reunited once more.
Dorothy's desperately deployed force field softly decelerated Tiara, enveloping both in a giant sphere.
“Haa... haa... haa...!”
A cordless bungee jump she'd never do again in her life... even Tiara's sharp eyes brimmed with tears.
Her heart, left far behind, finally caught up, pounding as it pumped blood through her body—belatedly felt.
'This time, really scold her. Jumping bare like that. What was she thinking, Tiara.'
No matter how much she missed me...
Sheesh. Hmph. Really. Ha... ridiculous.
Dorothy's cheeks puffed out! Suuuper puffed.
But...
“Good girl...! Knew you could do it!”
Tiara grinned smugly like praising a dog that fetched a ball, ruffling Dorothy's red hair.
“Heh... heheh... thwanks...”
That alone made Dorothy plenty happy.
“And... sorry. For leaving you alone again.”
It's all fine. I got to meet Tiara.
Half my vision. Dorothy barreled into me all “Waaah!”
“Nooo! It's fine... I acted on my own...”
Half my vision again. Theia shoving my ass and back like mad.
-Hey! Hey! Can't hold anymore! Get in! You'll get pulled toooo!
What a mess. And dust clouds as gangsters swarmed us.
“Kill 'em! W-wait, two! There're two!”
“What's the diff?”
“Then why the fuck are you falling back?”
The black solvent on Dorothy's body was gone.
“Hehe... used it all up.”
Now to settle this. I stroked Dorothy's apologizing head and offered my hand.
“It's okay... hold my hand, Dorothy?”
Dorothy's gloved hand overlapped mine.
Kugugung...!
Half my Outernet-connected brain pulled My Room's compute power through the tower.
“Tiara, so the plan is... ah...?”
Dorothy's question cut off. Still, as her kind comrade, I answered the unfinished query.
“Plan A.”
Get stronger.
“Uwaaaagh!”
“What the fuck!”
“Grab! Grab something!”
“They're floating! In the air!”
Dorothy blankly stared at the sky.
The ground bugs evolved to air bugs, all tangled in the inverted gravity force field, floating helplessly.
And... now for this!
“Dorothy! Let's get closer to the tower!”
“Yeah!”
Send them to the tower with Dorothy!
-Hey! Heeeey! Tiara!
I shifted focus at Theia's urgent cry. Vision flipped to the damp, dark Outernet.
“THEIAAAA!”
Gotcha!
All the tentacles' eyes fixed on Theia and me.
The comm packet briefly opened via Friend Invite was narrowing.
I jammed one foot into the black hole and yanked Theia's hand instead.
And yelled as loud as I could.
“Meowww!”
A few gazes on Theia turned to me. Good. They hear me.
Plan phase 2. Reconcile with the bad guys tormenting us.
“Got a proposal!”
[Duel, wanna do it?]
No, not that. Too much to do.
Instead of a heart-wrenching rejection for Ma-Mang, send a gift.
“Here! Brought some challengers!”
“Tiara! What the hell are you thinking!”
Foot in the hole, gripping Theia, I flipped consciousness back to the wasteland.
Now phase 3! Reconciled, time to game together!
“Alright! Didn't make this! Server not open! But anyway, first customers!”
I amplified the Netdiver's star-sensing. Tower-linked compute power, amplified 81x, detected every faint starlight like fireflies.
How'd I connect to Outernet? Smashed the outer wall by shutting off the core... auto-entered My Room.
Now I kinda got why City gov secured Outernet so tight. Not access permission needed.
Escape permission, maybe.
“Come on! Log in now!”
I'd thought Outernet like the net crammed with memes.
But... no.
I shoved the detected gang starlights toward the tower's massive light source.
Then I saw exactly how I'd connected—with my own two eyes.
“Kkuuuwaaa— -aaaaagh!”
“Save me, you fu -cking bastards!”
“Wh-what is this! What -is iiiit!”
The gang's starlights sucked into the tower's core.
-Aaaagh! Here! What is here!
-Bounce, fuck! It's a monster!
-How...? Ah? Aaaah?
-Don't step, fuck!
-Shut it! Die!
Their voices from the wasteland echoed in Outernet. Carrying their sleaze and chaos wholesale, the gangsters' bodies in the wasteland slumped silently.
Like I had.
Gulp.
Swallowed spit involuntarily. Dorothy shuddered too, her gloved hand trembling.
PvP is hard to run. The original cyberpunk game was the same. Heard they made ranks, events, tournaments... but flop content.
So I skipped it too.
But... if I'd known it'd go real, should've dug into the lore more.
Outernet wasn't a tool for mass info exchange. More like a trap harvesting human consciousness itself... with malicious intent.
“Tiara, that was...?”
“...Dunno.”
Too little info to judge. I knew good gear spots, City hideouts... but post-story content? Nada.
Personal server My Room allocation criteria. Other 'users' in Outernet. Deep-sea big starlights like Ma-Mang—what were they.
“Haa... yeah, no idea.”
I sighed, repeating. Dorothy gripped my hand tighter.
Then, one vision corner: gangsters sucked into Outernet, howling.
Yeah. For now, satisfied saving Dorothy. Games for everyone.
Even trash who bullied her.
And... now Theia's turn.